F-sharp minor has been characterized as a somber key, a key of melancholy and a sense of being troubled. It has a lonely, pessimistic quality. But it can also be a key full of passion.
F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F♯, consisting of the pitches F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major, and its parallel major is F sharp major (or enharmonic G flat major).
On the violin, the F-sharp minor scale has few open strings, which makes it sound dark and cloudy.
Very few symphonies are written in this key, Haydn's Farewell Symphony being a famous example. Dora Pejačević also wrote a symphony in this key.
We have a handful of concertos written in this key: Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 1, Scriabin's Piano Concerto, Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 1, Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto No. 2, Stojowski's Piano Concerto No. 1, and Koussevitzky's Double Bass Concerto. I don't know if it has anything to do with this key, but these were concertos written by virtuosos for their own use. Hans von Bronsart also wrote a piano concerto in F sharp minor, op. 10.
As far as chamber music is concerned, we also have Haydn's Piano Trio No. 40 (Hob. XV:26) and his String Quartet Op. 50, No. 4. A very impressive example is the Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 by Brahms. Other piano quintets in this key were written by Amy Beach, and Reynaldo Hahn. There is also a Piano Trio (Opus 1 No 1) by Cesar Franck. William Sterndale Bennett wrote a sextet in F-sharp minor; Frank Bridge wrote a Fantasy Piano Quartet in F-sharp minor; Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 7 Op. 108 is in F-sharp minor. So it seems to be a rather popular key for chamber music with strings, and especially for combinations of piano and strings.
Piano pieces written in F-sharp minor include Schumann's Sonata No. 1, Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 34, Chopin's Polonaise in F♯ minor, Scriabin's Third Sonata, and Ravel's Sonatine. The slow movement of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Piano Sonata is in this key.
Handel set the sixth of his eight harpsichord suites of 1720 in F sharp minor. Apart from a prelude and a fugue from each of the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach's only other work in F-sharp minor is the Toccata BWV 910. Mozart's only composition in the key is the second movement of his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major.
Characteristic music in F-sharp:
Toccata in F sharp minor, BWV 910
One of Bach's early works based on earlier models, in this case the North German Toccata with distinct contrasting sections and fugal passages embedded in the rhapsodic material, as opposed to the more familiar two-movement Prelude and Fugue format. Other early Bach works that follow this sectional, Buxtehude-influenced format include the Prelude (Toccata) and Fugue in E major, BWV 566, and the Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 551, as well as the other toccatas in this series, BWV 911-916. Although the specific instrumentation is not given for any of the works, they are all strictly manualiter, as none of them calls for pedal parts. The present toccata is somewhat inconsistent, so perhaps individual sections were composed separately and later joined together. The earliest sources for the toccatas in BWV 910, 911, and 916 appear in the Andreas Bach Book, an important collection of keyboard and organ manuscripts by various composers compiled by Bach's eldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach, between 1707 and 1713. This suggests that most of these toccatas were written no later than Bach's early Weimar years, although the early North German style suggests a possible Arnstadt origin.
Pianist: Nathalia Milstein.
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 45 in F-Sharp Minor, Hob.I:45, “Farewell”
One of the most famous symphonies in F sharp minor is Haydn's Farewell Symphony. His Symphony No. 45, written in 1772, is accompanied by a story told by Haydn himself: Prince Nikolaus Esterházy and his court were staying longer than usual at the summer palace in Esterháza. The musicians had left their families in Eisenstadt and wanted to return home, and they asked Haydn to help them convey this message to the prince. Haydn put their plea into music: in the last movement, as each player finished, he extinguished the candle on his music stand and left. In the end, only 2 violins remained: Haydn himself and his concertmaster. The message was understood, and the court left for home the next day.
Il Giardino Armonico | Giovanni Antonini
Henryk Wieniawski: Violin Concerto in F-sharp minor No. 1, Op. 14
The premiere of this concerto took place in Leipzig on October 27, 1853, with Wieniawski as soloist, accompanied by the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The concerto was dedicated to the King of Prussia, who awarded the composer the Great Golden Medal of Arts and Sciences. Although the means used by Wieniawski in the Concerto in F-sharp Minor do not go beyond the style of the time, the amazing thing is that the piece was composed by a seventeen-year-old composer. His compositional style was clearly influenced by Niccolo Paganini, Karol Lipiński and Henri Vieuxtemps. The choice of key alone is reminiscent of Lipiński's Concerto No. 1 or Vieuxtemps' Concerto No. 2. What was new was Wieniawski's use of the cadenza as an integral and obligatory concerto movement. The beginning of the second movement, with the then fashionable title Preghiera (The Prayer), is reminiscent of medieval music. The contemplative mood, however, disappears with the sound of the fanfare, a jocular trumpet motif that begins the third movement. The finale, in the form of a rondo, contains folk elements reminiscent of Hungarian melodies. Full of artistic finesse and virtuoso technique, the work ends with a bravura coda.
Henryk Wieniawski - Violin Concerto Nr.1 | Ray Chen | Cristian Măcelaru | WDR Sinfonieorchester
Johannes Brahms, Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
If Brahms hadn't been such a stickler for perfection, he might have given us a great string quintet instead of the masterpiece that is his piano quintet. When Clara Schumann got Brahms's string quintet manuscript in 1862, she loved it, saying it had strong emotion and beautiful writing for the instruments. But when Brahms turned it into a sonata for two pianos the next year, Clara thought it felt more like a rearranged piece than a proper sonata. Brahms listened to her feedback and combined both ideas into the Piano Quintet we know today. It's one of his earlier works but still highly regarded in chamber music.
The Piano Quintet was inspired by Schubert's String Quintet in C major, especially noticeable in how Brahms originally wrote it for strings and in similarities between their slow movements. It might also draw from Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata, starting in F minor with octaves and a main theme interrupted by fast sixteenth notes.
Brahms finished the Piano Quintet in 1864 and published it in 1865, dedicating it to Princess Anna of Hesse. Like most piano quintets written after Robert Schumann's Piano Quintet in 1842, it's scored for piano and a string quartet (two violins, viola, and cello).
Maria Ioudenitch, violin; Andrea Obiso, violin; Matthew Sinno, viola; Timotheos Petrin, cello; Chelsea Wang, piano
César Franck, Symphonic Variations
The Symphonic Variations (Variations symphoniques) is a piece for piano and orchestra composed by César Franck in 1885. Critics have praised it as one of his most polished works, with a perfect blend of piano and orchestra. It showcases Franck's skill in using cyclic unity, where one theme transforms into different variations. Both piano and orchestra play significant roles in developing the musical ideas. The piece is in F♯ minor, with the final movement shifting to F♯ major.
Franck dedicated the piece to Louis Diémer, who premiered Franck's symphonic poem Les Djinns in March 1885 to critical acclaim. Franck had promised Diémer a reward, and the Symphonic Variations, with a similar orchestration, was the outcome. Franck's students, such as Vincent d'Indy, Henri Duparc, Paul Dukas, and Ernest Chausson, championed his works, helping the Symphonic Variations gain popularity among major pianists. Alongside Franck's Symphony in D minor, this piece contributed significantly to his posthumous fame. Today, it is a staple of concert performances and has been recorded numerous times.
Britanee Hwee performs Franck's Symphonic Variations with the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra.
Gabriel Fauré, Pavane Op. 50 in F-sharp minor
The Pavane op. 50 in F sharp minor is a single-movement piece for a small symphony orchestra, including two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, and strings. It's dedicated to Countess Elisabeth Greffulhe, known for her beauty, grace, and light step, affectionately called "Madame ma Fée" by Fauré. At her request, Fauré added a part for a mixed choir (sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses) with lyrics by her cousin, Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac. The premiere was on November 25, 1888, performed by the Concerts Lamoureux conducted by Charles Lamoureux. Fauré's Pavane influenced Claude Debussy's passepied in Suite bergamasque and Maurice Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte, composed while Ravel was still studying under Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire.
Cracow Young Philharmonic conducted by Tomasz Chmiel.
Alexander Scriabin, Piano Concerto, Op. 20
The Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op. 20, is an early piece by the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, written in 1896 when he was 24 years old. It stands out as his only concerto and is often overlooked but considered a gem in classical music. Unlike the grandeur of Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninov, or the flashy virtuosity of Liszt, Scriabin's concerto is refined and introspective, with delicate piano passages that express deeply personal emotions.
The first movement follows a classical structure but is adorned with romantic flourishes, featuring three main themes in the exposition. Its conclusion, reminiscent of Mahler's emotional depth, is particularly remarkable. The central Andante, in the bright key of F sharp major, presents five variations on a chorale-like theme, showcasing different moods and characters. The finale adopts a sonata-rondo form, with a brief development section based on earlier themes and a lengthy conclusion. While less harmonically complex than the first movement, it still evokes powerful emotions, with shifts between F sharp minor and A major and a poignant ending that leaves a lasting impression.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow Conductor: Kellen Gray; Soloist: Edyta Mydlowska
Maurice Ravel, Sonatine in F-sharp minor
Maurice Ravel composed the Sonatina between 1903 and 1905 for a competition organized by a magazine that no longer exists. Ravel was the only one chosen for this competition. The term "sonatina" doesn't indicate the difficulty level but rather Ravel's preference for a classical style.
The Sonatina comprises three movements. The first movement follows a sonatina structure, rich with lovely melodies. The second movement starts with a Mozart-like irregular sectional layout, while the third movement is rhythmic, featuring occasional modulations.
Judith Valerie Engel, piano
Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 7
Shostakovich was known for his chamber music compositions, and he established his unique approach to chamber music early in his career. Among his chamber works, the String Quartet No. 7, composed in 1960, stands out as the shortest, lasting about 13 minutes. It features a four-movement structure, although the "fourth" movement is not treated as separate, making it effectively a three-movement piece. Additionally, there are no breaks between movements; they are connected seamlessly with attacca notation by Shostakovich.
The first movement, Allegretto, begins with a descending line by the first violin, setting the tone in F♯ minor. This movement showcases a dialogue between two contrasting characters, emphasized through rhythmic patterns. The secondary theme shifts the tonal focus to E♭ minor before returning to F♯ minor in the recapitulation. The movement concludes with a major tonality, adding an expressive touch.
The second movement, Lento, starts with arpeggiation on the second violin, followed by entries from the other instruments. Shostakovich lightens the textures here compared to the outer movements, and performers are instructed to use mutes on their instruments.
The third movement, marked Allegro – Allegretto, begins forcefully, with the viola introducing a theme that develops into a fugue across all instruments. This section transitions into an Allegretto, reminiscent of a waltz, with recurring themes from the first movement interwoven. The quartet concludes with a pizzicato on the cello leading to an F♯ major triad.
Alan Hovhaness (1911 - 2000) was an American composer who wrote the large number of 467 compositions, including 67 symphonies, 22 concertos, 2 ballets and more than 100 works for chamber ensembles, and 7 operas.
Hovhaness, born Alan Vaness Chakmakjian, was the son of an Armenian chemistry teacher and a mother of Scottish descent. He began composing at an early age, reportedly from the age of four. He studied at the New England Conservatory in the 1930s; piano with Adelaide Proctor and Heinrich Gebhard, composition with Frederick Converse. In 1942 Hovhaness won a scholarship to study at Tanglewood, but left after a week of disappointment. Shortly thereafter, he came into contact with the Greek painter (he himself called him a spiritual teacher) Hermon di Giovanno, who advised him to return to his origins, in this case the liturgical music of Armenia. Because of his interest in Eastern music, philosophy and religion, Hovhaness became dissatisfied with his youth work, which he mostly destroyed. He organized an amateur orchestra and began to perform his new style of music, including such works as Celestial Fantasy, Three Armenian Rhapsodies, and the Saint Vartan Symphony.
After teaching composition at the Boston Conservatory from 1948 to 1951, he moved to New York, where he composed for radio, television, and the theater, including three scores for Martha Graham. In 1956, Leopold Stokowski, who had conducted the Symphony No. 1 "Exile" in 1942 and 1943, commissioned the Symphony No. 2 "Mysterious Mountain". Stokowski became a champion of Hovhaness and conducted many of his works in the following years.
[Hovhaness seen working on a manuscript, c. 1970-79]
During the summers of 1956 and 1959, Hovhaness taught composition at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music, and fellow composer Howard Hanson conducted a number of his works. In 1959, Hovhaness received a Fulbright Research Scholar Grant to study music in Madras, India, where he also composed for South Indian instruments. In 1960 he went to Tokyo, where the Nippon Philharmonic performed his Symphony No. 3. In 1962, Hovhaness returned to Japan on a Rockefeller Fellowship to study the ancient Gagaku music. In Korea he studied similar ancient music.
In 1963, Andre Kostelanetz conducted many of Hovhaness' works and commissioned several, including Symphony No. 19 "Vishnu," And God Created Great Whales, and Rubaiyat. After serving as composer-in-residence with the Seattle Symphony in 1967, Hovhaness moved to Seattle in 1972 for the rest of his life. In 1983, the C.F. Peters Corporation commissioned Symphony No. 50, "Mount St. Helen's".
Alan Hovhaness has been married six times. With his first wife, Martha Mott Davis, he had his daughter and only child, Jean Nandi. His last wife, Hinako Fujihara, his muse and a coloratura soprano by profession, who lovingly cared for him until his death, was about 25 years younger. Believing atonal music to be unnatural, Hovhaness eschewed the serialism that prevailed in intellectual musical circles and instead followed his own path. Although his music often contained dissonance, it was always within the context of (often modal) tonality. Influenced by Sibelius early in his career, Hovhaness maintained long melodic lines and transparent harmonies in his music. By the 1940s, he had absorbed his Armenian musical heritage along with Renaissance and Baroque fugues, canons, and arias; medieval and Greek modes; Byzantine polyphony; and Indian, Japanese, and Korean classical music. These many influences never obscured his own voice. He did not ignore contemporary trends, using prepared and quarter-tone piano as well as contrasting rhythms. His early experiments with aleatoric music, which he called "oriental spirit murmur," foreshadowed John Cage's fascination with chance in music. But above all, Alan Hovhaness strove to communicate beauty through his music.
Hovhaness's work has many Asian influences, not because he is the son of an Armenian, but because of his travels to India, Japan, and South Korea. The composer was deeply interested in religion and mysticism. Hovhaness was a Buddhist, which is expressed in his work through mysterious yet serene melodic lines. Hovhaness was also influenced by medieval and Renaissance music, and sometimes applied Bach's formal theory, especially his polyphony.
Hovhaness himself says that his work is mainly inspired by nature, especially the mountains. Hovhaness was not an innovative pioneer like his contemporaries Stravinsky and Schoenberg. His music is melodious and lilting in nature and was appreciated by many during his lifetime. Hovhaness's work is relatively easy to perform. Like Olivier Messiaen, Hovhaness has tried to combine the mystical and the secular, the Eastern and the Western, the ancient and the modern in his very personal music.
Hovhaness' two most recorded works, and among the most rewarding, are his Symphony No. 2 "Mysterious Mountain" op. 132, with lush, sweeping melodies like an Oriental-tinged Sibelius, and Prayer of St. Gregory for trumpet and strings (or organ) op. 62.
Symphonies
Alan Hovhaness's catalog of symphonies is numbered up to 67, but 75 is closer to the mark if suppressed early works and an unnumbered chamber symphony are included. It was Hovhaness's longevity that allowed him the time to compose so many, the last 43 of which were written after his 60th birthday. There is a parallel here with the prolific English symphonist Havergal Brian, who composed some 28 of his 32 symphonies after the same birthday.
But if we look at the number of Hovhaness's symphonies as a percentage of his total surviving output (about 500 works), we see that he did not specialize in this genre any more than other 20th-century symphonists: 67 symphonies represent about 13% of his output; compare this, for example, with Miaskovsky's twenty-seven (26%). The difference is that Hovhaness had an irreverent attitude toward contemporary notions of the modern symphony - he almost never wrote in sonata form, but for him the term "symphony" simply encompassed any multi-movement or substantial orchestral piece. His symphonic movements are not inherently different from the other music he wrote. Further evidence of Hovhaness's somewhat loose conception of the term "symphony" is that many of his symphonies acquired their designation quite arbitrarily, several years after their composition, while others are clearly solo concertos in all but name (e.g., No. 36 for flute and strings). Still other works betray a genuinely symphonic conception and yet escape the designation "symphony," such as the admirably crafted Concerto No. 7 for Orchestra.
Hovhaness's most famous symphony, the Symphony No. 2, "Mysterious Mountain," is discussed in my article "Best Symphonies of the Twentieth Century, Part Three" on this blog so I will skip it here.
Symphony No 1 "Exile" (1936)
The earliest "official" Hovhaness symphony was premiered in England in 1939 by the BBC Orchestra under Leslie Howard. The conductor heaped praise on Hovhaness, declaring his First Symphony "powerful, virile and musically very solid. It was also the work that won the composer the admiration and support of Leopold Stokowski, who introduced the symphony to the American public in 1942 and later commissioned Symphony No. 2, "Mysterious Mountain.
The "Exile" of the title alludes to the plight of the many Armenians (including Hovhaness's paternal family) who were either uprooted or killed before and after World War I, and moods of both anguish and heroism permeate the outer movements. Nevertheless, the work is dedicated to the English philosopher and writer Francis Bacon, the composer's literary hero.
The original titles of the three movements were Lament, Conflict and Triumph, reflecting the plight of the exiled Armenians. In 1970, the composer replaced the central "Conflict" movement with a new Grazioso movement and retitled the outer movements with non-programmatic tempo markings, somewhat diluting the symphony's original political connotations.
It is easy to hear Oriental influences in the rich melodic arcs, and a connection to ancient civilizations in the modal tonalities. That the composer's compassion and prayers for the liberation of the persecuted were intense is perhaps most dramatically characterized in the startling fanfares, fugues and chorale of the final movement.
A painting by the Greek mystic painter Hermon di Giovanno was Hovhaness' inspiration for this symphony. Such paintings adorned the walls of Hovhaness's apartments for most of his life. In the early 1940s, di Giovanno had introduced Hovhaness to the ancient worlds of Greece, Egypt, and India, and had encouraged the composer to further study his Armenian heritage. Hovhaness described di Giovanno as "my spiritual teacher who opened the door to the spiritual dimension. Perhaps this is the "Celestial Gate" of the title, rather than the title of a specific painting.
As Lou Harrison noted, Hovhaness was "one of the greatest melodists of the 20th century," and this symphony certainly exemplifies Hovhaness' gift for beautiful melodic writing. It is not surprising, then, that after Mysterious Mountain, Celestial Gate is the most frequently recorded symphony.
The symphony is in one movement and scored for chamber orchestra. After a brief introduction setting the mood of the work, one of the main features of the piece, an extended melody of great beauty, appears on the clarinet over a viola countermelody; the string accompaniment includes scalic pizzicato motifs that come to the fore in a later dance-like section. A number of solo instruments play this material at various times throughout the symphony. There is also a fugal development of the first phase of the theme. The work, which began in the depths of the lower strings and bassoon, ends with 'floating' high tessitura con sordini violin clusters, taking the listener from our mundane world to an ethereal world of serenity, even bliss. It is as if a new dimension is revealed to us as we finally pass through the heavenly gate.
The Vishnu Symphony is one of the most original orchestral works of the 20th century and deserves to be widely known. From the unsettling low brass growl of the opening, it is clear that this is a work of astonishing invention. It is certainly his boldest work in terms of exploring the limitless sonorities afforded by his 'senza misura' aleatoric technique, which had come a very long way from the hushed pizzicato murmurs of 1944's Lousadzak. Yet the composer's facility with what he called "controlled chaos" makes it sound completely at home in this adulatory hymn to the universe, where its purpose is to portray mystery, grandeur, and cosmic energy. The aspect of the Hindu god Vishnu with which this tone poem is primarily concerned is related to his most ancient character as a sun god, depicting him as "protector and preserver of life."
Originally conceived as a cosmic tone poem entitled "To Vishnu", the work is cast in one continuous movement as "an unfolding giant melody of adoration to the immensity and sublimity of limitless stellar universes". The form is completely free, consisting of a broad melodic line interrupted by preludes and interludes composed of a chaos of controlled sounds, never reaching aleatoric music. Its structure, according to its author, is inspired by the classical Japanese concept of Jo-Ha-Kyu, roughly translated as "beginning, pause, rapid", which essentially means that all actions or efforts should begin slowly, accelerate and then end quickly. https://youtu.be/AMFjiunPyq4?si=5LKIoaFQZvMCrCte
Concertos
Hovhaness wrote 22 concertos for various solo instruments. One of the most famous is his piano concerto, Lousadzak ("Coming of Light," 1944), but as I have already introduced that in my "Best Piano Concertos of the Twentieth Century Part Two," I will skip it here.
Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra "Artik" (1948)
Composed in 1948 for Hovhanes' students at the Boston Conservatory of Music. The concerto is named after a 7th-century octagonal Armenian church with a central dome and four semi-domes. It consists of eight short movements (I. Alleluia, II. Ballata, III. Laude, IV. Canzona: To a mountain range, V. Processional, VI. Canon, VII. Aria, VIII. Intonazione) and suggests the spiritual form of a mass with long melismatic melodic lines and motet-like responses. All melodies are original.
Prayer of Saint Gregory for trumpet and strings (1946)
The Prayer of St. Gregory op. 62b, an intermezzo from the opera Etchmiadzin with the trumpet's prayer over plaintive, hymn-like strings, is a moving spiritual piece that has already become a staple of the trumpet repertoire. It is a quietly sinuous trumpet psalm over a bed of strings - an oriental extension of the Tallis fantasia.
Listen to: David Krauss with Gerard Schwarz and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra:
Fantasy on Japanese Wood Prints, for xylophone and orchestra (1964)
This is one of the better known works resulting from Hovhaness's contact with Japan and its culture. A single-movement concerto for xylophone, Hovhaness uses Western instruments in unconventional ways to create impressions of traditional Japanese instrumental techniques. In addition, his melodies are heavily influenced by the modalities found in traditional Japanese music. Hovhaness did not attempt to create a direct musical equivalent of ukiyo-e prints, but rather intended this piece to be a reflection of the delicacy, charm, and vitality characteristic of Japanese printmaking, as well as a reflection of his own love for Japan.
Listen to Unites States Marine Band with SSgt Gerald Novak, xylophone soloist:
Mountains and Rivers Without End (1968)
A chamber symphony in all but name, and not part of the composer's numbered canon. The work was inspired by a Korean scroll, a landscape painting, and was certainly influenced by the composer's time (in the 1960s) under the tutelage of the Gagaku musician Masatoro Togi. The music is rich: dancing angels suggested by high singing violins and pizzicati, gliding horn, flute and English horn, rolling trombone roulades, bells, the Oriental ornithological serenade of flute and high woodwinds, a labyrinth of Messiaenian complexity, a paradisaical cloud of birdsong and impressionistic harp and horn parts. It all ends in pealing ecstasy.
And God Created Great Whales, for taped whale sounds and orchestra (1970)
One of Hovhaness's most famous works, mixing the taped sounds of the "song" of various whale species with a mystical score evoking the wash and depth of an imagined eastern sea. There are some conceptual parallels here with the taped birdsong in Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus. This is a powerful amalgam and is made extremely moving by the counterpoint between the whale song and Hovhaness's inspired music. It contains one of Hovhaness's most inspired melodies towards the end.
Listen to: YOSA Philharmonic, Troy Peters, Music Director:
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam for speaker, accordion, and orchestra (1975)
In The Rubaiyat, a narrator intones stanzas from the Fitzgerald translation while the orchestra provides an oriental background that enhances the poems. Hovhaness, with his fascination for Eastern music and motifs, brings joy to a reading of Khayyam's poetry. An accordion is used in the orchestra, making truly beautiful and exotic sounds. You will never find a better contrast between what most people think of when they hear the words "accordion music" and what is heard here. Hovhaness does an admirable job of capturing the poetry's mixture of youthful exuberance coupled with the inevitability of mortality.
Among the highlights of Hovhaness's chamber music output is his String Quartet No. 1 "Jupiter" op. 8, an early and lush work. Interestingly, Hovhaness's quartets were written to be played in his home with his friends. Even in the quartets, Hovhaness' music inhabits a distinctive sound world, with strong, simple, modal harmonies mixed with elements from the composer's Armenian heritage and the Far East. But Hovhaness also loved the music of Bach, as evidenced by his heavy use of fugues here. In other words, Hovhaness' contrapuntal skills are very much on display in this first quartet. The opening "Prelude" and the second movement (an impressive quadruple fugue) were reworked for full orchestra in the 1950s into the popular Prelude and Quadruple Fugue. The prelude has a jaunty, interesting oriental-sounding melody, while the second movement is stylistically more strictly fugal, before a zigzagging theme builds to an urgent and busy conclusion. The slow 3rd movement is tenderly elegiac. The work concludes with a lively fugal finale that is also used in the second movement of the Mysterious Mountain Symphony.
Sonata for ryuteki and sho (flute and organ, 1968)
As the title suggests, this sonata is Japanese in inspiration, the result of Hovhaness's study of Japanese court music called gagaku (which itself originated in China in the 8th century). The ryuteki (literally "dragon flute") is a Japanese transverse flute (fue) made of bamboo. It is one of the three types of flutes used in gagaku. The sound of the ryuteki is said to represent dragons ascending into the sky. The sho is a free-reed instrument descended from the Chinese sheng of the Tang Dynasty, although the sho tends to be smaller than its contemporary sheng relatives. It consists of 17 slender bamboo pipes, each with a metal-free reed attached to its base. Two of the pipes are silent, although research suggests that they were used in some music during the Heian period. It is speculated that they were kept as part of the instrument to maintain the symmetrical shape. The sound of the instrument is said to imitate the call of a phoenix. Inspired by these exotic instruments, Hovhaness subjects their modern Western counterparts to a unique treatment: in the five short movements, the organ plays only chordal clusters in the upper register, while the flute is given melodic lines influenced by Japanese gagaku modes.
The Sonata "Fred the Cat" was written for music writer Jurgen Gothe, who commissioned the work after the death of his pet. Hovhaness happens to be another cat lover who has written other pieces influenced by cats. The sonata is a heartfelt work that again dissects the oriental accented and the hymn-like. The first movement, "Give a cat a twig and he takes a tree," is very lyrical and in ABA form. There are also many rhythmic ostinatos. The second movement, "Purr Dance," is a short and lively movement in AB form: Part A is in the style of Armenian dance music and Part B is a short jhala, Indian bell-like music. The third movement, "Fred the Cat and Distant Mountain," is also in AB form: the A section contains hymn-like material, and the B section is choral, with a bass part that moves in steps. The whole movement is religious in spirit. The final movement, "Fred the Cat flies to heaven," is in ABA form and features expressive melodic lines in the right hand against rhythmic ostinati in the left. All of the melodic phrases have a Far Eastern flavor. At the same time, this movement is reminiscent of sentimental folk art.
Bohuslav Martinu: "A cosmopolitan Czech modernist"
The Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) had an international career
in France, the United States and finally Switzerland. He
wrote in a modernist and neoclassical style. Martinu was a prolific
composer, who produced nearly 400 works, including his oratorio "The Epic of Gilgamesh" (1955), his six symphonies, concertos (these number almost thirty: four violin concertos, eight compositions for solo piano, four cello concertos, one of each for harpsichord, viola, and oboe, five double concertos, two triple concertos, and two concertos for four solo instruments and orchestra), chamber music (including eight string quartets, three piano quintets, a piano quartet, a flute sonata, a clarinet sonatina) and many others. Blending influences from Eastern European folk music, the
neoclassicism of Les Six (a group of composers that included Poulenc,
Milhaud, and Honegger), impressionism, jazz, and the modernist styles of
Stravinsky and Bartok, Martinu developed a highly personal musical
language.
Martinu grew up in the bell tower of a church in Policka, Bohemia. At the age of 10, he composed his first string quartet, and at 16 he entered the Prague Conservatory, only to be expelled for “incorrigible negligence.” He eventually found work as a violinist with the Czech Philharmonic, and fell in love with Paris while on tour there in 1923. He relocated and established himself as a composer within the French musical scene, writing in a distinctive neoclassical style. He experimented with jazz, a Bartokian rhapsodic style, and neoclassic fun-and-games in the manner of Les Six. An outstanding work is the jazz ballet for six players "La Revue de Cuisine."
Later, he came more and more under the influence of Stravinsky, but unlike many others, he became less like Stravinsky and more like a Czech. Perhaps he saw the relationship of Russian folk music to Stravinsky's highly sophisticated musical approach and found his artistic salvation. But any Czech folk influences were subordinated to a neoclassical style. At this point we have such works as the Suites for String Orchestra, Inventions for Orchestra, the First Cello Concerto, the Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, the Second Piano Concerto, and the Concertino for Piano Trio and Orchestra. The period culminates in the late 1930s with such powerful works as the opera Julietta, Tre Ricercari, and the unrelenting Double Concerto for two string orchestras, piano, and timpani - his magnum opus.
[Bohuslav Martinu at the piano working on his second symphony. U.S.A., New York, around 1942]
During World War II, Martinu fled to the United States, first traveling to Portugal before arriving in America in March 1941. Here Serge Koussevitzky encouraged the composer with a commission for his First Symphony, and Martinu was hired to teach composition during the summers at Tanglewood. His work opened up emotionally without losing its considerable craft. He became a major twentieth-century symphonist, writing four works in the genre during the war (he ended up with six). During this period, the work sings as never before. Outstanding works include the Symphony No. 4, the Violin Concerto No. 2, the Cello Concerto No. 2, the Lidice Memorial, the Piano Quartet, the Violin Sonata No. 3, and the Trio for Flute, Cello, and Piano. The post-war period saw a renewed interest in vocal music. It includes such pieces as "The Epic of Gilgamesh" and culminates in his opera based on Kazantzakis' "The Greek Passion". The two major orchestral works of this last phase are his Sixth Symphony and "Three Frescoes by Piero della Francesca."
Martinů worked quickly and was a versatile composer. His extensive and varied oeuvre shows some basic constants: There is always a close connection to Czech folk music - his compositions are often lively and dance-like. Martinu's rhythm is particularly differentiated, showing an attractive tension between regular and irregular elements as well as constant changes in time. The harmony is relatively traditional, but has its own characteristics - completely new connections and timbres emerge; however, the adherence to an extended tonality does not exclude sometimes harsh dissonances. Martinu prefers freer, rhapsodic forms to conventional ones; the basis of his music is not so much themes as motifs that undergo complex transformations. While he was initially influenced by Impressionism, his encounter with the music of Igor Stravinsky and the Groupe des Six in Paris had a lasting impact on his work. From this time on, he turned to neoclassicism and incorporated elements of jazz into his musical language.
Symphonies
In considering Martinu's symphonies, it should be kept in mind that all six date from Martinu's mature years, and also that the first five followed each other from year to year. There are useful short descriptions of all six works, describing the First as "epic, tragic and energetic", the Second as "lyrical, poetic and vivid", the Third as "dramatic and bohemian", the Fourth as "colorful and joyful", the Fifth as "visionary" and the Sixth as "a song of longing and hope". They are Martinu's most prominent works and, with the possible exception of the Second Violin Concerto and the neoclassical "La revue de cuisine," the most often performed. As a group of symphonies, they are among the best the 20th century has to offer; think Nielsen, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Milhaud, Langaard or Shostakovich.
Symphony No. 4 (1945)
The Fourth Symphony was composed in New York City from April 1945, and completed at Martinu's summer home at Cape Cod in June 1945. The work is in four movements and, according to the composer, grows out of a single motif. Here Martinu aligns himself more strongly with the Bohemian tradition of Smetana and Dvorak. The first movement alternates between lyrical and rhythmical material presented in variation. It shows the composer's rare capacity for thematic development. The music is animated by an inner light and confidence. The second movement, in 6/8 time is a Scherzo, marked by a rhythmically irregular Dvorakian leading melody. Here, too, there are many echoes of Martinu's homeland, and in the trio he writes an idyll in a small Czech village. The slow third movement is dominated by the strings with short passage-work for the woodwind. The dark-hued Largo is in a serious mood with complicated chromatism. The finale is an energetic reworking of earlier material and has hope return, to end with a shining hymn of joy and coda in C major. This symphony is the most joyous of the author's six compositions in this genre. The symphony was first played by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugen Ormandy on the last day of November 1945.
Listen to: hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Orchestral Music
La Bagarre (The Fight)
The young Martinu wrote works depicting a football match (Half-time), jazz-dancing kitchen utensils (La Revue de Cuisine - see below), and crowds celebrating Lindbergh's flight in La Bagarre (The Fight). These are strong orchestral works that could be compared to Honeger's Pacific 231 and Rugby.
Listen to: hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Andrés Orozco-Estrada
The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca
Cast in three movements, the 1955 work was inspired by the eponymous 15th-century Italian artist’s religious frescoes in Arezzo, which depict various manifestations of the power of the cross. Martinu had seen these frescoes in 1954. He was inspired particularly by "The Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba" and by "Constantine's Dream." But he largely played down any specific programmatic correlations in the score. Frescoes is characteristic of the composer in its essentially tonal style yet spiked with a harmonic tartness and rhythmic instability.
Martinu composed the work in Nice in 1955, and it was first performed in Salzburg by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Rafael Kubelik on 26 August 1956. There are three movements: Andante poco moderato - Adagio - Poco allegro.
[Detail from The History of the True Cross: the Queen of Sheba meeting with King Solomon]
The frescoes called "The Legend of the True Cross" form a sequence painted by Piero della Francesca in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. It is his largest work, and generally considered one of his finest, and an early Renaissance masterpiece. Its theme, derived from the popular 13th century book on the lives of saints by Jacobus de Voragine, "The Golden Legend," is the triumph of the True Cross – the legend of the wood from the tree in the Garden of Eden becoming the Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, via a tree planted on the grave of Adam.They are believed to date from after 1447, when the Bacci family, commissioners of the frescoes, are recorded as having paid an unknown painter. The large paintings would have been finished around 1466.
Listen to The Orchestra Now conducted by Leon Botstein:
Concertos and other concertante works
A professional violinist himself, Martinu wrote nearly 30 concertos or concerto-like works (solo or in small groups as in a concerto grosso).
Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani
Written in Switzerland in 1938 and commissioned by Paul Sacher for the Basel Chamber Orchestra, this concerto is based on the concerto grosso, its three movements scored as 1. poco allegro, 2. largo, 3. allegro. Its outer movements are characterized by a mood of anxiety expressed through syncopated rhythms, while its largo centers on a defiant, declamatory statement.
After a vacation in Czechoslovakia, Martinu worked at the Vieux Moulin near Paris. In September, he accepted an invitation to the Sacher family estate in Schönenberg, near Basel, from where he observed the deteriorating situation in Europe and especially in his homeland. The cover of the manuscript score bears the dedication: "To my dear friend Paul Sacher, in memory of the quiet and anxious days I spent in Schönenberg among the deer and the threat of war". Martinu completed the last movement of the sketch on the day of the signing of the Munich Treaty. It was premiered by the Basel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Paul Sacher in Basel in February 1940. Martinu traveled from Paris to attend the Basel performance, despite the difficult international situation. The Swiss composer Arthur Honegger was among the audience at the premiere.
Another contemporary composition with similar instrumentation is Bela Bartok's Divertimento for String Orchestra, also commissioned by Paul Sacher for the Basel Chamber Orchestra in 1938.
Listen to François-Xavier Roth conducting l'Orchestre national de France with as pianist Cédric Tiberghien:
Cello Concerto No 1
Composed in 1930, this cello concerto was one of the first works of Martinu's neoclassical period. The Catalan cellist Gaspar Cassado premiered it in Berlin with a small chamber orchestra. In 1939, Martinu rewrote it for full symphony orchestra and dedicated this version to the French cellist Pierre Fournier. Martinu revisited the work in 1955, this time thinning out the orchestration (removing the piano and tuba but keeping the rest of the brass). This version was also dedicated to Fournier and is the one usually heard today.
The concerto opens with confident music that sounds like Dvorak in his American period. The dark second theme also has a Czech flavor, expressively sung by the cello in constant interaction with the woodwinds. All in all, this is a boldly angular movement.
The heart of the concerto is the beautiful central Andante moderato, with its broad, reflective theme introduced by the clarinet and extended by other woodwinds and solo trumpet, a theme characterized by rhythmic shifts from measure to measure. When the cello enters, the theme takes on a sense of great beauty and peace. The movement builds to an impassioned climax before fading away with quiet, noble restraint.
The frenetically energetic finale opens with a vigorous toccata-like section in which the soloist is in constant motion. There is a contrasting lyrical Andantino before the brilliant surge to the final cadence.
The First Cello Concerto remains one of Martinu's most popular and successful examples of the concerto form.
Listen to: Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra with Emanuel Pavon, cello, and Matija Fortuna, conductor:
Rhapsody Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
The Rhapsody Concerto for Viola and Orchestra was commissioned by the Ukrainian-born American violist Jascha Veissi (1898-1983) and written in New York City from March 15 to April 18, 1952.
With the Rhapsody Concerto, Martinu began his last major stylistic development toward neo-Romanticism. His ability to build long lyrical passages that end in a powerful catharsis reaches its first peak here. The work has only two movements. The first, Moderato, begins in B flat major, Martinu's favorite key in his late works. After a large orchestral introduction, the viola enters with a lyrical cantabile melody. Although Martinu provides the soloist with opportunities for virtuosic display, the main character of the work is lyrical and serene. In the second movement, Martinu introduces a simple but strong melody in F major, marked molto tranquillo. After a fast middle section, Martinu returns to this melody in a moving coda. (Based on the liner notes by Ales Brezina of the Hyperion CD Martinu, The Complete Music for Violin and Orchestra 3)
Listen to: Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jonathan Bloxham, conductor and Timothy Ridout, viola:
Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra (1953)
Bohuslav Martinů was a violinist himself, yet the piano color in many of his symphonic scores is his actual signature. The two instruments are assigned solo roles in the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra (1953), commissioned by Benno and Sylvia Rabinof, who duly premiered it in May 1954. Written concurrently with Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies symphoniques), the remarkable work bears the typical features of its author's later work, combining restless expanses with simple intimate melodies and arching from its dramatic opening to the catharsis of its conclusion. Unfortunately, it is hardly ever performed nowadays – it is one of my favorite Martinu pieces. It's accessible, tuneful and has interesting textures with the violin and piano.
Conductor Petr Popelka of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra has invited some excellent Czech musicians to perform – the Czech Philharmonic's youngest ever concertmaster Josef Špaček and the highly sought-after pianist Miroslav Sekera:
Chamber Music
Trio for flute, cello and piano (1944)
It was in New England, in the summer of 1944, that the three movements of the Trio came to life - written in just 5 days. It has been called a refreshingly effervescent affirmation of Martinu's Czech roots. It is a radiant gem of bright sound and cheerful mood. The first movement is a buoyant dance-like structure in modified sonata form; the slow movement is a lyrical 6/4 Adagio opened by the piano, after which the flute and then the cello go their separate ways; while the final movement, introduced by a somber cadenza for the flute, is another dance-oriented movement.
Listen to: Elizabeth Kleiber, Flute, Luis Tovar, Cello and Deborah Emery, Piano
Sonata for violin and piano No. 3 (1944)
This is one of Martinu's most dramatic and darkest duo works. This is not surprising; the sonata dates from 1944, when Martinu had exiled himself to the United States and Europe was still struggling amid the turbulence of WWII. The first movement (Poco Allegro) reveals the piano's restlessness and tension in the very first bars. The adagio is close to Dvorak with its combination of tenderness and nostalgia. In the Scherzo "homeland sounds" are masked by "New World sounds" - Gershwin rhythms and Czech dances in symbiosis. The final movement (lento, poco allegro, allegro vivo) teems with contrasting drama and lyricism, and features a Dvorak-like nostalgia, evoking Martinu's Czech roots. This sonata - which is almost like a symphony - has long been a staple of violinists’ repertoires worldwide.
Listen to Ludmila Pavlová - violin & Alena Grešlová - piano
Nonet (1959)
Scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, and double bass Martinu's Nonet No. 2 was composed in 1959, the last year of his life. It was commissioned for the 35th anniversary of the Czech Nonet Ensemble, which premiered it at the Salzburg Festival, and published posthumously in the fall of that year. In three short and contrasting movements, the nine different instrumental voices interact with each other like nine people talking at a party. Everything is solo and no one is doubled. The first movement is buoyant and lively - it is full of color and texture and life. There is also a distinct "neoclassical" "Stravinsky" influence without being derivative. The second movement gives way to melancholy, led by the strings - worlds away from the first movement. The finale is perhaps the most varied, full-bodied of the three, with the most variation in its little five minutes of music. The last part of the movement brings a spirited coda and a quiet ending. Very rich and satisfying music that makes a compelling case for this composer.
Listen to Round Top Festival Institute
See my article "Best Cello Sonatas" on this blog for a discussion of Martinu's Third Cello Sonata.
Choral Works and Songs
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a three-part oratorio for soloists, mixed chorus and orchestra, written in 1954/55. Its premiere in Basel on January 24, 1958, and its performance at the Vienna Festival in 1959 were among the composer's greatest successes. Martinu wrote the English text of his work himself, focusing on philosophical questions. Neither the heroic deeds of Gilgamesh and Enkidu nor the description of the Flood are taken from the original text.
Compositionally, the work is characterized by great contrasts between the individual parts: there are sonically intoxicating scenes with a large cast as well as striking dialogues. The small second interval plays a crucial role as a motif throughout the work. It first represents the people's fear of the ruler, and later the ruler's fear of death. The chorus and soloists take on changing roles throughout the piece, and all participants participate equally in the narrative process.
Listen to a recording by the Czech TV:
Stage Works
La revue de cuisine (Suite from the Jazz Ballet)
A one-act ballet for sextet: clarinet (B♭), bassoon, trumpet, violin, cello and piano, composed in 1927. The dancers play a variety of cooking utensils that swagger through a naive episode of kitchen life. The marriage of Pot and Lid is threatened by the suave Twirling Stick. Pot succumbs to his flattery. Dishcloth makes eyes at Lid, but is challenged to a duel by Broom. Pot, however, is tired of Twirling Stick and longs for Lid's caresses, but Lid is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, a giant foot appears from the wings and kicks him back onto the stage. Pot and Lid kiss and make up, and flirting again, Twirling Stick leaves with Dishcloth.
The music contains complex time signatures. Other jazz influences can be seen in the instrumentation: the piano with its rich harmony and dissonance, the muted trumpet reminiscent of the jazz bands of the era, and the repeated use of pizzicato in the cello part reminiscent of the use of the double bass in jazz.
The Suite is in four movements: Prologue, Tango, Charleston, and Finale.
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) is the most influential figure in Danish music. His fame - both nationally and internationally - is based on the complex and modern music he wrote for the concert hall; in addition, his songs based on Danish folk traditions are particularly appreciated in the country of his birth, although they are virtually unknown abroad.
Raised on the island of Funen (near Odessa), the young Carl Nielsen spent a few years as an army trumpeter before attending the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where he studied violin and composition with Niels Gade and Hartmann, among others. After graduating from the Academy, Nielsen played violin in the Royal Danish Orchestra from 1886 to 1905. He then served as Kapellmeister at the Royal Theater (1908-14) and conductor of the Copenhagen Musical Society (1915-27), and from 1915 he taught at the Royal Conservatory, where he became director in 1931, shortly before his death.
In 1891, Nielsen married the Danish sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen in a relationship that was a "meeting of minds." Anne Marie was a gifted artist and a "strong-willed and modern woman, determined to make her own career. After her husband's death, she sculpted the Nielsen Monument in Copenhagen. Their daughter Anne Marie married the Hungarian conductor and violinist Emil Telmányi, who was instrumental in promoting Nielsen's music both as a violinist and as a conductor.
Nielsen's early music is still rooted in the 19th century, but his later style is a powerful fusion of chromatic and often dissonant harmony, solid contrapuntal structure, concentrated motivic treatment, and bold extensions of tonality with frequent polytonal passages. His personal style is the antithesis of Romanticism, perhaps a little dry, but also infused with humor. But there is also a certain hardness and stiffness in his music that makes it difficult for some listeners (not the writer - I am a great fan of Nielsen's music!) to feel close to it - unlike the mysterious and melodious music of that other great Northern European composer, Sibelius.
[Carl Nielsen in 1917]
Symphonies
Outside of Denmark, Nielsen is most closely associated with his six symphonies, powerful works that feature decisively articulated tonal progressions, written between 1892 and 1925. The works have much in common: they are all just over 30 minutes long, brass instruments are a key component of the orchestration, and they all feature unusual changes in tonality that heighten the dramatic tension. Symphony No. 1 (1890-92), while reflecting the influence of Grieg and Brahms, shows Nielsen's individuality from its opening bars. In Symphony No. 2 (1901-02), Nielsen embarks on a description of human personality, inspired by a painting of the four temperaments (choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic and sanguine). Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia Espansiva" (1910-11), exploits Nielsen's technique of juxtaposing two keys, and includes a peaceful section with a wordless chorus. Symphony No. 4, "The Inextinguishable" (1914-16), written during World War I, is one of the most frequently performed of the symphonies. In the final movement, two sets of timpani are placed on opposite sides of the stage and engage in a kind of musical duel. Nielsen described the symphony as "the life force, the unquenchable will to live. Also frequently performed is Symphony No. 5 (1921-22), which presents another battle between the forces of order and chaos. A snare drummer is given the task of interrupting the orchestra, playing "ad libitum" and out of time, as if to destroy the music. In Symphony No. 6 (1924-25), "Sinfonia Semplice," the tonal language seems similar to that of Nielsen's other symphonies, but the symphony develops into a series of cameos, some sad, some grotesque, some humorous.
The sixth and final symphony, Sinfonia semplice, was written in 1924-25 and is a strangely oblique and fascinating work. It is emotionally ambiguous and complex - although the music itself is not at all difficult. The textures are very spare. The first movement is as anti-heroic as they come, oscillating between outrageous humor and at times almost menacing drama. The "modern music" of the second movement mocks and derides the avant-garde, turning it into a circus act that amuses and disturbs. The Bartokian nature of the intense string fugue gives the third movement (called "Serious Proposition") a powerful but enigmatic atmosphere. The "Theme and Variations" of the final movement all too easily dissolves into chamber music or passages of extreme elegiac expressiveness, the elements of which refuse to coalesce into any kind of wholeness. As Nielsen said, the bizarre variation with tuba and percussion represents "death knocking at the door," but the following fanfares seem a death-defying gesture. The symphony ends with two bassoons playing powerfully at their lowest pitch, as if giving the finger to death.
Listen to the hr-Sinfonieorchester conducted by Paavo Järvi:
Concertos
Nielsen wrote three concertos: the Violin Concerto, Op. 33, is a mid-period work from 1911, in the tradition of European classicism, while the Flute Concerto of 1926 and the Clarinet Concerto that followed in 1928 are late works influenced by the modernism of the 1920s. In contrast to Nielsen's later works, the Violin Concerto has a distinctly melody-oriented neoclassical structure. The two-movement Flute Concerto was written for flutist Holger Gilbert-Jespersen, a member of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet, which premiered Nielsen's Wind Quintet. In contrast to the more traditional style of the Violin Concerto, it reflects the modernist trends of the time. The first movement, for example, alternates between D minor, E-flat minor, and F major before the flute enters with a cantabile theme in E major. The Clarinet Concerto was also written for a member of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet, Aage Oxenvad. Nielsen stretches the capabilities of the instrument and the player to the limit; the concerto has only one continuous movement and contains a struggle between the soloist and the orchestra and between the two main competing keys.
Clarinet Concerto
Carl Nielsen's Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra op. 57 was composed between April and August 1928 and expresses the essence and expressive potential of the clarinet with a small orchestra and snare drum playing with and against each other. and against each other. In addition to the instrument itself, Carl Nielsen was inspired by the person for whom the work was intended: the unique and spirited clarinetist Aage Oxenvad, a member of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet and a participant in the very first performance of Nielsen's Wind Quintet (see below).
Eschewing the large classical concerto form, Nielsen has cast the Clarinet Concerto in one continuous movement. It begins with a firm Allegretto un poco, relieved by a somewhat more songful second theme. There are many stormy exchanges between the soloist and the orchestra, and between the two main competing keys, F major and E major. Each time hostilities seem to be at an end, a snare drum incites the combatants to renewed conflict. A poco adagio follows, interrupted several times by faster, more disturbed sections. The final section is an energetic Allegro vivace, but a return to the Adagio brings the work to a conclusion of calm austerity, with the key of F major ultimately triumphant.
Listen to Sebastian Manz with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart directed by Herbert Blomstedt:
Orchestral Music
Nielsen's first work composed specifically for orchestra was the immediately successful Suite for Strings (1888), which evoked Scandinavian Romanticism as expressed by Grieg and Svendsen. The work marked an important milestone in Nielsen's career, as not only was it his first real success, but it was also the first of his works that he conducted himself when it was performed in Odense a month later.
The Helios Overture (1903) dates from Nielsen's stay in Athens, which inspired him to compose a work depicting the rising and setting of the sun over the Aegean Sea. The score is a showpiece for orchestra and is one of Nielsen's most popular works. Saga-Drøm (Saga Dream, 1907-08) is a tone poem for orchestra based on the Icelandic saga Njal's Saga. At the Beer of a Young Artist (Ved en ung Kunstners Baare) for string orchestra was written for the funeral of the Danish painter Oluf Hartmann in January 1910 and was also played at Nielsen's own funeral. Pan and Syrinx (Pan og Syrinx), a powerful nine-minute symphonic poem inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, was premiered in 1911. The rhapsodic overture, "An Imaginary Journey to the Faroe Islands" (En Fantasirejse til Færøerne), draws on Faroese folk tunes but also includes freely composed sections.
Nielsen's orchestral works for the stage include Aladdin (1919) and Moderen (The Mother, 1920). Aladdin was written to accompany a production of Adam Oehlenschläger's fairy tale at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. Moderen, written to celebrate the reunification of South Jutland with Denmark, was first performed in 1921; it is a setting of patriotic verses written for the occasion.
Aladdin, Suite for Orchestra, Op 34
Aladdin is a "dramatic fairy tale" in verse, in a prologue and five acts, based on The Arabian Nights, written in 1805 by Adam Oehlenschläger (along with Ludvig Holberg, the foremost Danish dramatist - their statues still flank the entrance to the Royal Theatre). It is the most extensive of Nielsen's scores for the theater, and with some 80-85 minutes of music, it is his largest work overall, apart from his two operas. It is also one of his most inventive scores, and the musical language he developed for the exotic dances and depictions of good and evil greatly enriched his style and exerted a strong influence, for example, on his Fifth Symphony of 1921-1922. Nielsen frequently conducted orchestral excerpts from Aladdin, both in Denmark and abroad, always to great popular acclaim. His supporters believed that his music for Aladdin could eventually do for his reputation what Peer Gynt had done for Grieg. The three solo songs from Aladdin were published in 1919, followed in 1926 by a suite of four orchestral pieces arranged for small orchestra. In 1940, to coincide with a new production of the drama using Nielsen's music, a definitive suite of seven pieces was published, which has since been widely performed and recorded.
Listen to the hr-Sinfonieorchester conducted by Constantinos Carydis:
Chamber Music
String Quartets
Nielsen wrote four string quartets. The First String Quartet No. 1 in G
minor, Op. 13 (1889, revised 1900) contains a "Résumé" section in the
finale, bringing together themes from the first, third and fourth
movements. The Second String Quartet No. 2 in F minor, Op. 5
appeared in 1890 and the Third String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 14 in
1898. The Fourth String Quartet in F major (1904) initially
received a mixed reception, with critics unsure of its restrained
style. Nielsen revised it several times, the final version in 1919 being
listed as his Op. 44.
String Quartet in F major Op 44 (1919)
Carl Nielsen's String Quartet No. 4 in F major was composed between February and July 1906, after one of Nielsen's major dramatic works, the comic opera Maskarade. The last of Nielsen's four string quartets, its first public performance took place in Copenhagen on November 30, 1907. The quartet was originally titled "Piacevolezza" after the first movement, which was marked Allegro piacevolo ed indolente (Pleasant and Lazy). In the revised 1919 edition, the movement was renamed Allegro non tanto e comodo and the title was dropped.
The opening movement, Allegro non tanto e comodo, is a perfect example of the studied nonchalance of a composer who was an expert at creating music of a certain character whenever he chose. Note the polyphonic dexterity with which the composer expresses himself, and the cheerful bird chirping that gives the piece its own tone. The second movement, Adagio con sentimentio religioso, shows Nielsen's interest in music for Denmark's national songs. It is evocative cathedral music. The third movement, Allegretto moderato ed innocento, is a graceful scherzo full of surprises. Beginning quietly, the theme is interrupted by a forte glissando that leads into a charming rondo. The Trio begins with a pleasant melody in the cello, followed by a brief dramatic crescendo, before ending with the main theme. The finale, introduced by a brief Molto adagio, moves into an Allegro non tanto, ma molto scherzoso, which forms the main section. The lyrical, lighthearted second theme is perhaps the most telling part of the work, ending in full harmony.
It is a pity, however, that Nielsen wrote only string quartets (and a string quintet) in the early years of his career - I would have liked to see how his style would have developed in his later mature phase.
The violin was Nielsen's own instrument, and he composed two major chamber works for it. The departures from standard procedures in the First Sonata, Op. 9 (1895), including its often sudden modulations and terse thematic material, unsettled Danish critics at its first performance. The Second Sonata, Op. 35 of 1912 was written for the violinist Peder Møller, who had premiered the composer's Violin Concerto earlier that year. The work is an example of the composer's progressive tonality, for although it is in G minor, the first and last movements end in different keys.
Violin Sonata No 2 Op 35 in G minor
Nielsen's Second Violin Sonata was composed in 1912. It is a darker affair than the First Violin Sonata and contains more dissonance than its predecessor. There are echoes of the Third Symphony, but there is none of the composer's self-confidence in that symphony, and it does not reveal its secrets as easily.
It is in three movements. The opening movement, Allegro con tiepidezza, begins gently, with a pastoral calm. However, it is quickly followed by a powerful risoluto section. This is followed by a quieter and more lyrical section, and this remains the pattern throughout this substantial movement. There is a note of tragedy in the second movement of the sonata before it becomes more lyrical, even wistful. There are also loud chords in the piano, with the violin "screaming" above them, indicating that all is not well, before the movement ends quietly and peacefully in major. The movement has a powerful, schizophrenic character. The flowing main theme of the finale, another Allegro piacevole, breaks the mood and provides the necessary contrast before becoming agitated with fast, repeated notes in the piano with the singing violin above. The G minor Sonata is probably Nielsen's most frequently performed violin work abroad, thanks in part to Telmányi's dedication to the piece, which he called "a work without equal in the sonata literature. Both he and Nielsen themselves considered the second movement to be particularly unique.
Listen to Christine Pryn and Manuel Esperilla play Carl Nielsen's 2nd sonata:
Music for Winds
The Wind Quintet, one of Nielsen's most popular pieces, was composed in 1922 for the Copenhagen Wind Quintet. It was deliberately composed for the five members of that Quintet, each part cleverly made to suit the individuality of each player.
Wind Quintet Op 43
The Wind Quintet is one of the composer's last works in which he attempted to express the characters of the various instruments. At one moment they are all speaking at once, at another they are all alone. The work consists of three movements: a) Allegro, b) Minuet, and c) Prelude - Theme with Variations. The theme for these variations is the melody of one of Carl Nielsen's hymns, which is used here as the basis for a series of variations, at times merry and whimsical, at times elegiac and serious, ending with the theme in all its simplicity and very quietly expressed. Overall, the piece combines aspects of neoclassicism and modernism.
Listen to Denmark's best known woodwind quintet CARION:
Music for Piano
Over a period of 40 years, Nielsen composed only occasionally for the piano (he does not seem to have been a great pianist himself - he was more of a violinist and started out as a trumpeter). The 8 major piano works he wrote can be divided into shorter character works (the Five Piano Pieces Op. 3, the Bagatelles Op. 11, and the delightful teaching pieces that make up Piano Music for Young and Old Op. 53), and the more important (anti-Romantic) works in which Nielsen's individual style comes through (the Symphonic Suite Op. 8, the Chaconne Op. 12, and the large-scale Theme and Variations Op. 40 (arguably Nielsen's greatest piano work, the Suite Op. 45, and finally the Three Pieces Op. 59).
Theme and Variations
In Theme and Variations, Op. 40, critics have recognized the influences of Brahms and also of Max Reger, of whom Nielsen had previously written to a friend: "I think that the public will not be able to grasp Reger's work at all, and yet I am much more sympathetic to his efforts than to those of Richard Strauss.
Here is Theme and Variations played by the Ukrainian pianist Mariya Orlenko:
Music for Organ
Commotio
Nielsen's organ works were late compositions. Nielsen's last major work – Commotio, Op. 58, a 22-minute piece for organ – was composed between June 1930 and February 1931, only a few months before his death.
Here it is played by Nils Henrik Asheim (with dance by Lene Aareskjold) on the Stavanger Konserthus Orgel:
Operas
Nielsen's two operas are very different in style. The four-act Saul and David, written in 1902 to a libretto by Einar Christiansen, tells the biblical story of Saul's jealousy of the young David, while Maskarade is a comic opera in three acts, written in 1906 to a Danish libretto by Vilhelm Andersen, based on the comedy by Ludvig Holberg. Saul and David received a negative press when it premiered in November 1902, and did no better when it was revived in 1904. In contrast, Masquerade was a resounding success in November 1906, with an extraordinary run of 25 performances in its first four months. Generally regarded as Denmark's national opera, it has enjoyed enduring success and popularity in its home country, thanks to its many strophic songs, its dances and its underlying "old Copenhagen" atmosphere.
Maskarade Overture played by Danish National Symphony Orchestra with Fabio Luisi:
*****
The Carl Nielsen Society maintains a list of performances of Nielsen's works by region (Denmark, Scandinavia, Europe outside Scandinavia, and outside Europe), which shows that his music is regularly performed throughout the world. The concertos and symphonies appear frequently in these lists.
The Carl Nielsen International Competition began in the 1970s under the auspices of the Odense Symphony Orchestra. A violin competition has been held there every four years since 1980.
In his native country, the Carl Nielsen Museum, in Odense, is dedicated to Nielsen and his wife, Anne Marie.
[Contains edited text from the relevant articles about Nielsen in the English and Dutch Wikipedia]
Wanting to collect another batch of interesting piano trios - after my posts on Best Piano Trios and Best Piano Trios Part Two -, I searched YouTube and was surprised to find many fantastic works, in many cases still unknown to me, and all by women composers! Several of them had already been included in my post Best Chamber Music by Women Composers, four of them indeed with a piano trio (such as Clara Schumann and Fanny Hensel) but in more cases with other chamber music - and since the harvest was so large and interesting, it seemed a good idea to dedicate a separate post to "Piano Trios by Women Composers." For the sake of completeness, I will also briefly include the four piano trios already discussed in my previous post.
(1) Hélène Liebmann, Grand Trio No. 1 in A major, Op. 11 (ca. 1816)
Marie Hélène Liebmann, née Riese, later Liebert (1795-1869), was born in Berlin in 1795, the second child of a wealthy Jewish bourgeois family. Her father, Meyer Wulff Riess (later Martin Riese), was a wealthy banker. Helene Riese was a child prodigy. She studied with Clementi's pupil Franz Lauska. There is a record of a concert she gave in her hometown of Berlin on February 23, 1806, where she astonished the audience and was hailed as a brilliant pianist. She was also active as a singer and composer. Her Piano Sonata Opus 1 was published when she was 15.
In 1813, Hélène converted to Christianity and married the merchant John Joseph Liebmann. In April 1814, the young couple moved to London, where Hélène took lessons from Ferdinand Ries, a former student of Beethoven. In 1819, the couple was registered as living in Hamburg. There is no evidence of public concert performances during their time in London. In Hamburg, however, Helene Liebmann is known to have appeared as a concert singer. In 1819 - after her husband had also converted to Christianity - they both adopted the Christian-sounding surname "Liebert". There is no information whether she continued to compose after 1819; the next reference to her is in the diary of Clara Wieck (the future Clara Schumann), which states that Liebmann attended a concert of Clara's in Hamburg in 1835.
Helene Liebmann's compositions include two sets of songs, several sonatas and other piano works, two violin sonatas, two piano trios and a piano quartet - the piano is present in all of her works. During her Berlin period, piano sonatas and songs predominated. The focus of her London period was on chamber music. A total of about 20 printed works have survived, which she wrote within seven years.
Her musical style owes much to Mozart and Haydn. The Piano Trio in A major is one of two "Grand Trios" written by Helene Liebmann - there is another one in D major, probably from the same year (1816). The whole piece is full of grace and very evocative of its time. Find it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FuE2SLAZ5c8
(2) Louise Farrenc, Piano Trio Nr. 1 E flat major Op. 33 (1833-34)
Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was a composer, virtuoso pianist, and teacher. Farrenc was one of the most successful women composers of the 19th century, and her reputation was such that in 1842 she was appointed professor of piano at the Paris Conservatory, a position she held for thirty years and one of the most prestigious in Europe.
Farrenc studied composition with Reicha; her husband, Aristide Farrenc, was a flutist, musicologist, and music publisher. At first, in the 1820s and 1830s, she composed exclusively for the piano. Several of these pieces were highly praised by critics, including Robert Schumann. In the 1830s, she tried her hand at larger compositions for chamber ensemble and orchestra. It was during the 1840s that much of her chamber music was written. While the vast majority of Farrenc's compositions were for piano alone, her chamber music is generally regarded as her best work - it remained of great interest throughout her life. Her symphonies, however, have been recorded in recent years and have also attracted much interest. My previous posts about her were dedicated to her Piano Quintet No. 1 in A minor and her Third Symphony.
She wrote four trios: two piano trios (Trio in E♭, Op. 33, 1841–44; and Trio in D, Op. 34, 1844), a clarinet trio (Trio in E♭, Op. 44, 1854–56, for piano, clarinet and cello) and a flute trio (Trio in E minor, Op. 45, 1854–56, piano, flute and cello).
Listen to the first piano trio in a performance by Tomomi Hori, Klavier, Désirée Pousaz, Violine, & Kaspar Zwicky, Violoncello. There are 4 movements: I Allegro, II Adagio sostenuto, III Minuetto. Allegro, IV Finale. Vivace.
3. Clara Schumann, Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17 (1846)
Clara Schumann (1819-1896), born Clara Josephine Wieck, was a pianist and composer when she married the composer Robert Schumann in 1840. Schumann put his own career first and was very much against Clara's wish to continue her career as a pianist - he needed a housewife (in 16 years of marriage Clara gave birth to 8 children (not to mention the miscarriages she also had), so half the time they were married Clara was pregnant).
Clara Schumann composed her Piano Trio in G Minor in 1846, and although this was a year of great stress for her (with a move to Dresden and her husband's illness), it is a wonderful example of the German Romantic style, personal, intimate and never seeking attention for technical prowess. It is a brilliant composition of a highly poetic nature.
4. Fanny Hensel, Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 11 (1850)
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847) was a musical prodigy, every bit as talented as her famous brother Felix, but 19th-century mores kept her at home. Both her father and brother opposed an active career, and she was only able to play music at concerts in their home - where her 466 compositions were performed. Here is her wonderful Piano Trio in D minor - published only 3 years after her untimely death.
Listen a wonderful performance by the Aletheia Piano Trio (Fei-Fei, piano; Francesca dePasquale, violin ; Juliette Herlin, cello) via my post about this work at Best Women Composers.
(5) Emile Mayer, Piano Trio Op 12 in E minor (1861)
Emilie Mayer (1812 - 1883), a student of Carl Loewe and Adolf Bernhard Marx, was probably the first full-time female composer in Germany. With eight symphonies and 15 concert overtures, twelve string quartets, piano chamber music, violin and cello sonatas, and a piano concerto, she ventured into musical genres that were generally considered too difficult for women at the time. Her works were performed in many of Europe's musical centers, earning her the nickname "the female Beethoven. She was in close contact with many musicians of her time; Franz Liszt, among others, expressed his enthusiasm for her work. In "Best Women Composers," I presented her Piano Concerto in B-flat Major.
Emilie Mayer's first Piano Trio in E minor contains the following movements: I. Allegro II. Scherzo III. Un poco Adagio IV. Finale. Allegro assai
Listen to: Ensemble Le Beau
(6) Amanda Maier, Piano Trio in E-flat major (1873-74)
Amanda Maier (1853 - 1894) was born in Sweden in the musical family of a confectioner. At the age of sixteen, Maier went to study at the Stockholm Conservatory. Her main subject was violin, but she also studied organ, piano, cello, composition and harmony. She graduated in 1872. In 1876, she became engaged to the German conductor and composer Julius Röntgen (about this important composer see my article Classical Music in the Netherlands, part 2). In 1880 Amanda and Julius married and moved to Amsterdam. Although Amanda's performances stopped after the marriage, she continued to stay in musical circles. She became acquainted with Edvard Grieg, Anton Rubinstein, Joseph Joachim and Johannes Brahms.
Link to YouTube: https://youtu.be/7xj0l9xbgXE (this is the first movement, but the others movements can also be found at YouTube)
(7) Elfrida Andrée, Piano Trio No. 2 in G minor (1884)
Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929) was born in the Swedish town of Visby on the island of Gotland. The child of enthusiastic amateur musicians, she was sent to Stockholm to study the organ at the age of 14. A student of Ludvig Norman and Niels Wilhelm Gade, she became a virtuoso, the first female cathedral organist, and the first female conductor and symphonist in Sweden. She worked in Stockholm from 1861 and became organist at Gothenburg Cathedral in 1867. For her services she was elected a member of the Swedish Academy of Music. In addition to her musical work, she was politically active and important in the Swedish feminist movement and became the first female telegraphist.
Andrée's organ symphonies are still performed today. She also composed the opera Fritiofs Saga (to a text by Selma Lagerlöf, 1899), several orchestral works, two piano quintets, a piano quartet and two piano trios, as well as violin and piano pieces, a Swedish mass, and many songs and choral works.
The Piano Trio in G minor consists of 3 movements: - Allegro agitato (G minor) - Andante con espressione (B flat major) - Finale. Rondo Allegro risoluto (G major)
Listen to: Askanäs Kammarensemble
(8) Cécile Chaminade, Piano Trio No 2 in A Minor Op. 24 (1887)
Cécile Chaminade (1857 - 1944) was born in Paris and became a famous French composer and pianist. She studied composition with Benjamin Godard, but not officially because her father disapproved of her musical education (she never had a proper conservatory education). But she was encouraged by Camille Saint-Saëns, Emmanuel Chabrier and Bizet to pursue her career.
She gave her first concert at the age of 18, and from then on her compositions gradually became more popular. After a tentative debut with the premiere of her first piano trio, Opus 11 (1880), orchestral works were premiered in 1888. In 1892, she made her debut in England, where her works became very popular. In 1908 she visited the United States, where she was warmly received by her many admirers. Chaminade's oeuvre is extensive and covers many genres.
Although a relatively early work, Chaminade shows great assurance in her Second Piano Trio of 1887. It is an attractive and elegant piece.
Rosalind Ellicott (1857–1924) was one of the leading female composers of her generation. Ellicott was born in Cambridge; her father was the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol and had no real interest in music. Her mother, on the other hand, was a vocalist and was involved in the founding of the Handel Society of London and the Gloucester Philharmonic Society. From 1874 to 1876, she studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music under Frederick Westlake. While there, she also studied for seven years with Thomas Wingham, a pupil of William Sterndale Bennett.
Her first published work was "Sketch" in 1883. Thereafter, she began to compose ambitious works for chorus and orchestra, many of which were performed at Gloucester's music festivals. By the end of the 19th century she became interested in chamber music, apparently hoping for more performance opportunities. Nevertheless, around 1900, she began disappearing from the public eye.
Not many of Ellicott's works have survived to this day. Aside from a few songs and instrumental pieces, the only known surviving published works are the cantatas "Elysium" and "The Birth of Song," as well as two piano trios. Many of her surviving works are in the dense, exquisite Brahmsian style of composition, with heavy textures and rich instrumentation, which is also evident in his chamber music.
The first piano trio has the following movements:
1. Allegro con grazia
2. Adagio-Poco andante-Adagio
3. Allegro brillante
Listen to: Trio Anima Mundi
with Rochelle Ughetti, Violin;
Noella Yan, Cello; and
Kenji Fujimura, Piano
(10) Laura Netzel, Piano Trio Op. 78 (1903)
Laura Netzel (1839 - 1927) was a Finnish-born Swedish composer, pianist,
and conductor. During the 1860’s, Netzel studied piano and voice in
Stockholm,
making her debut at age seventeen and having a performance career of
nearly forty years. During the 1880’s, Netzel studied composition in
Paris. Laura Netzel published over seventy works, including five pieces for
choir, three piano trios, eleven pieces for violin and piano, eight
piano solos, one piece for organ and nearly forty songs. She was
inspired by Wagner's chromatic style.
(11) Dora Pejačević, Piano Trio in C major op. 29 (1910)
Dora Pejačević (1885-1923) grew up in Našice in east Croatia, in a town of which a significant part was the feudal property of the Pejačević family until 1945. Her father was the Croatian Count Teodor Pejačević, her mother a Hungarian baroness and a trained pianist and singer. Dora Pejačević received her first music lessons in Budapest and Zagreb, and studied further in Dresden and Munich. She was a composition pupil of the obscure English composer Percy Sherwood, but was essentially self-taught. She was widely read in literature and philosophy and her circle of acquaintances included the Viennese journalist and writer Karl Kraus as well as Rainer Maria Rilke. She is considered one Croatia's most important 20th century composers and many of her works, during her lifetime, enjoyed considerable success and were performed throughout Germany, Austria, Hungary and the rest of the Habsburg Empire. She wrote in a late-Romantic style and also composed for orchestra, such as a piano concerto and a very powerful symphony.
The Piano Trio in C is also an energetic piece of music, with attractive themes and interesting rhythms. Listen to her Piano Trio performed by Teresa Baczewska, piano; Beata Warykiewicz - Siwy, violin; Natalia Kurzac - Kotula, cello. There are the following movements: I mvt. Allegro con moto; II mvt. Scherzo; III mvt. Lento; IV mvt. Finale. Allegro risoluto
(12) Morfydd Owen, Piano Trio (1915)
Morfydd Owen (1891-1918) was a Welsh composer, mezzo-soprano and pianist who left 250 manuscripts
at her tragic death aged 26 (due to a botched appendectomy operation), including orchestral, chamber and choral works,
as well as songs to English, Welsh and French texts. She was a musical child, showing great talent at an early age and received piano lessons early on. While in her teens she appeared as a soloist in a performance of the Grieg Piano Concerto. Owen took up her place at the Royal Academy in September 1912 where her
principal study was composition, with piano and singing as second
studies. She received individual composition lessons with Frederick Corder, who taught several other notable British composers. Towards the end of 1916 Owen was introduced to the London Welsh psychoanalyst Ernest Jones and after a brief courtship they married at Marylebone Register Office on 6 February 1917. Though Owen only composed seriously for just over 10 years, she left a legacy of some 250 scores. These include pieces for chamber ensemble, piano, mixed choir and tone poems for orchestra. However, it is her compositions for voice and piano that are regarded as her most important and mature contributions. The Piano Trio is Owen’s most significant chamber composition.
Listen to: Prism trio at Hartford Women Composers Festival 30th March 2019.
(13) Germaine Tailleferre, Piano Trio (1916-17)
Germaine Tailleferre was the only female composer in Les Six, a loosely formed group of six composers active in France in the 1920s. Her music is exuberantly energetic and full of melodic imagination. Germaine Tailleferre spent a great deal of time with Maurice Ravel, with whom she also took lessons. During the group's relatively short existence, Les Six's common goal was to react against Impressionist and late-Romantic works. She composed the melodically compelling and boldly rhythmic Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello early on, around 1916-17, and revised it in 1978. Germaine Tailleferre, who died in 1983 at the age of 91, was active to the end of her life and even had a street named after her in Paris.
I. Allegro animato II. Allegro vivace III. Moderato IV. Trés animé
Listen to: Morgenstern Trio
(14) Rebecca Clarke, Piano Trio (1921)
Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) was born in England to an American father and German mother. After her musical studies with Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music (the first woman to do so), she pursued a career as performer on both violin and viola. She was a prominent concert violist both at home and abroad, and highly active in chamber and symphonic ensembles. In fact, she became one of the first female musicians in a fully professional ensemble, Henry Wood's Halle orchestra.
Rebecca Clarke wrote music in a late romantic, rather chromatic
style. Her Sonata for Viola and Piano has been discussed in my blog post
The Best Works for Viola, and in Best Women Composers I have presented one her earliest works, the short Morpheus for Viola and Piano.
Composed
at a time when Arnold Schoenberg was promoting atonality, Clarke's
Piano Trio is conservative in its harmonic language but strikingly
original in the way it uses its musical material. The trio is in
three movements, linked by a motto theme heard at the beginning and
repeated in dramatically varied forms in the following movements.
Listen to: Atos Trio
(15) Henriëtte Bosmans, Trio for Violin, Violoncello and Piano (1921)
Dutch composer and pianist Henriëtte Bosmans (1895-1952) was the only child of Henri Bosmans, principal cellist of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, and pianist Sara Benedicts. Among her teachers were Arnold Schoenberg and Willem Pijper. During her lifetime she received great honors both as a pianist and as a composer, including being one of the few Dutch musicians to play with the internationally renowned Concertgebouw Orchestra under conductors such as Willem Mengelberg, Pierre Monteux, Sir Adrian Boult and George Szell. The daughter of a Jewish mother, Bosmans was banned from performing and working as a "half-Jew" in May 1940. In the years that followed, she could only perform at illegal house concerts ("zwarte avonden" - black evenings).
The Piano Trio is a substantial piece, animated by the passion of youth. The movements are:
Allegro con brio
Andante moderato
Andante
Listen to Ensemble Le Beau
(16) Helvi Leiviskä, Piano Trio (1924)
Helvi Leiviskä (1902-1982) was a Finnish composer, writer and music educator. In 1927 she graduated in composition from the Helsinki Music Institute (Sibelius Academy), where she studied with Erkki Melartin. She continued her studies in Vienna and then returned to Finland to study with Leevi Madetoja. She began her work as a composer with a debut in 1935 and also worked as a music teacher in private and public schools from 1922 to 1938. In 1933 she accepted a position as librarian at the Sibelius Academy. Her compositions include a piano concerto, three symphonies, a piano quartet, and a violin sonata. Her style can be described as moderate modernism. Leiviskä's work is characterized by philosophical and religious themes, images of nature and narrative structures.
Helvi Leiviskä's Piano Trio is a powerful, youthful work that impresses with its directness of expression and profound sonority. Leiviskä wrote the work while studying at the Helsinki Music Institute and completed it in 1924.
Listen to: Annemarie Åström, violin; Ulla Lampela, cello; Tiina Karakorpi, piano
(17) Amy Beach, Piano trio in A minor, op. 150 (1938)
Amy Beach (1867 - 1944) was the first American woman composer to make a name for herself in music. She was born into a distinguished New England family. She was a child prodigy who began composing at the age of four and gave her first recitals at the age of seven. When she was fourteen, Amy received her only formal compositional training by studying harmony and counterpoint for a year. She received no other instruction and was self-taught, mainly by studying classical pieces such as Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.
She made her professional debut in Boston in 1883. After marrying Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, a Boston surgeon 24 years her senior, in 1885, she agreed to limit her performances to one public recital a year and devoted herself to composing.
After her husband's death in 1910, she toured Europe as a pianist, performing her own compositions. She was determined to make a name for herself as a pianist as well as a composer. Amy Beach's major compositions include the Mass in E major (1892), the Gaelic Symphony (1893), a violin sonata, a piano concerto, a piano quintet, various choral and chamber works, and an opera. She composed mainly in a romantic idiom often compared to that of Brahms.
Written when she was 70, the mature style of the Piano Trio is freer and more tonally ambiguous than her early works. Yet Beach still favors a clear, conservative, post-Romantic approach, like many other composers who extended their style into the 20th century despite being considered old-fashioned by the modernists and avant-gardists of their time. In the first movement, there are still echoes of the French style - especially Franck and Debussy - but the next two movements use folk rhythms and tunes from American indigenous peoples. The main theme of the last movement is a common ragtime syncopated rhythm used in cakewalks, a dance that originated on black slave plantations.
I. Allegro
II. Lento espressivo / Presto
III. Allegro con brio
Listen to: Vuillaume Trio
(18) Joan Trimble, Phantasy Trio (1940)
Joan Trimble (1915-2000) was an Irish composer and pianist. She studied piano with Annie Lord at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, and music at Trinity College, Dublin, and continued her studies at the Royal College of Music, London, until 1940 (piano with Arthur Benjamin and composition with Herbert Howells and Ralph Vaughan Williams). She first came to prominence as part of a piano duo with her sister Valerie; Joan also composed a number of works for two pianos, which the duo performed. A 1938 recital at the RCM, where they performed three of these works, was her breakthrough. Between 1959 and 1977 she taught piano at the RCM. Joan Trimble's music is conservative for its time. She combined the impressionist harmonic language she had learned from her studies with Annie Lord with melodic and rhythmic inflections derived from traditional Irish music. Her most advanced music is found in the Sonatina for two pianos (1940) and the impressive song cycle The County Mayo (1949). Trimble's music is always melodic, tastefully written, and rewarding for the performer.
Trimble's Phantasy Trio (1940) won the Cobbett Prize for chamber music.
Lera Auerbach (born October 21, 1973) is a Soviet-born Austrian-American classical composer, conductor, and concert pianist. Auerbach was born to a Jewish family in Chelyabinsk, a city in the Ural Mountains. She received permission to visit the United States in 1991 for a concert tour; although she spoke no English, she decided to defect so she could stay in the country and pursue her musical career. She graduated from the Juilliard School in New York, where she studied piano (with Joseph Kalichstein) and composition (with Milton Babbitt and Robert Beaser). She also studied comparative literature at Columbia University and earned a piano diploma from the Hanover University of Music. She is also a published, award-winning poet and an exhibiting painter and sculptor. Auerbach has written symphonies, concertos, and large-scale choral works.
Auerbach composed her first piano trio in the mid-1990s, while still in her late teens and early twenties. The three-movement work is vivid, accessible, skillfully crafted, and powerfully emotional.
The below video unfortunately only comprises the 3rd movement (played by Delta Piano trio):
(20) Kaija Saariaho, Piano Trio "Light and Matter" (2014)
Kaija Anneli Saariaho (née Laakkonen; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg, and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. Her research at the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM) marked a turning point in her music away from strict serialism towards spectralism. Her characteristically rich, polyphonic textures are often created by combining live music and electronics. In a 2019 composers' poll by BBC Music Magazine, Saariaho was ranked the greatest living composer.
Kaija Saariaho has said that she was inspired to write this work by looking out her window in New York at the changing lights and movements of Morningside Park. The Piano Trio succeeds in capturing the dynamics of movement and kinetic energy through the musical interplay of the three instruments.
